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Stuart, Bruins snap six-game losing skid

Dec 31, 2007 - 10:16 PM By Mike Petraglia PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BOSTON (Ticker) - Mark Stuart watched his big brother score his first NHL goal and then helped his Boston Bruins teammates end their six-game losing streak.

Stuart scored the go-ahead goal late in the second period and the Bruins tallied on their first three power-play chances beat the Atlanta Thrashers, 5-2, Monday afternoon at TD Banknorth Garden.

For the second time in as many games, Mark Stuart and Colin Stuart played on opposing teams, with each brother claiming victory on home ice.

"We didn't say any words," Mark Stuart said. "We were out there a few times together. It is kind of a weird feeling having your brother score on you. (Saturday) night in his debut, he got a point.

"Obviously, I am happy for him. But we need to win. Tonight was good. He scored a goal and we still won."

Tim Thomas made 28 saves for the Bruins, who began their five-game homestand with a win.

Atlanta used the power play to jump out to a one-goal lead midway through the first period. With Boston's David Krejci in the box serving a holding penalty, rookie Tobias Enstrom fed Ilya Kovalchuk, who was stationed on the right side boards.

Kovalchuk spotted Holik between the circles. Holik fired a one-timer between the pads of Thomas for a 1-0 lead at 9:18 of the first period.

Exactly four minutes later, the Thrashers doubled their lead on Colin Stuart's first NHL goal. The left winger took a pass from Todd White and beat Thomas to make it 2-0.

"Definitely, the team is first," Colin Stuart said. "Getting that first NHL goal is exciting, but it would've made it more exciting if we came out of here with a win."

The Stuarts' parents watched the game on the internet as they were overseas and unable to attend but Cristin Stuart, their sister and captain of the Boston College women's hockey team, was in attendance.

"She's the only other family member who got to see it," Colin Stuart said. "So, she got to see it."

The Bruins almost gained some late first-period momentum going into the locker room when Marco Sturm broke away shorthanded but his shot was turned away when Kari Lehtonen made a right shoulder save with six seconds remaining in the period.

The Bruins turned the tables on the Thrashers in the second and made history in the process.

On Boston's first power play, Dennis Wideman took a pass from Andrew Ference at the top of the slot and fired a slap shot through a screen and past an obstructed Lehtonen for his fifth goal at 4:40 of the second. It was the 18,000th goal in franchise history - only Montreal has scored more in NHL history.

"(Teammate Milan Lucic) told me," Wideman said. "He let me know after the (second) period. I never heard anything about it. That is absolutely great for the organization and the franchise. Just shows you how long this team has been around and how good they have been over the years."

The Bruins knotted the game, 2-2, 34 seconds later when P.J. Axelsson deflected Zdeno Chara's wrist shot from the left point past Lehtonen on the far side.

"I think we just decided to play," Bruins coach Claude Julien said of his team's play after the first period. "We were full of good intentions but just very hesitant. I just told them to go out and play.

"The one thing we started doing well was getting pucks in deep. We got on top of them and had a good net presence tonight."

Boston then took advantage of a delayed penalty against Atlanta when Mark Stuart took a pass from Peter Schaeffer and fired a slap shot from the left point. Lehtonen got his stick on the puck but couldn't stop it as Stuart picked up his second goal of the season and third of the period for the Bruins at 9:40.

"When we were down 2-0, we were just trying to get one goal," Mark Stuart said. "That changes a lot. Once we got that goal, we went from there."

Boston made life difficult for Lehtonen, constantly screening in front of the Atlanta goalie, who stopped 32 of 37 shots.

"I wasn't hungry enough to see them," Lehtonen said. "It's easy to stay back behind a guy and go down and hope it hits you. That's the easy way. The hard way is to try and move the guy and see the puck next to him. I wasn't able to do that at all today and that's no good."

It was the second time this season and the second time in three weeks that brothers had scored in the same game. Marcel Hossa scored for the Rangers while Marian Hossa scored for the Thrashers in Atlanta's 4-2 win on December 7.

Phil Kessel scored his 11th and Matt Lashoff netted his first career goal, both on the power play, as the Bruins built their lead to 5-2 in the first seven minutes of the third period.

"We got up on them a couple of nights ago and we played well as a team but tonight we didn't," Holik said. "You don't want to lose the first period and come back to win. That just doesn't make any sense.

"It was just a terrible performance by us. It would be different if we hadn't played them in two months and we didn't know what to expect but we found the keys to success 48 hours ago and we just didn't execute tonight."